China mulls trial to limit administrative power

The top legislature is mulling a pilot reform program in south China's Guangdong Province to further limit administrative power by suspending or adjusting a list of governmental examination and approval items.

The list consists of 25 examination items set by national laws, including settings for special business entities, qualifications for health care facilities for work-related illnesses and architect registration.

The suspension or adjustment of local governmental examinations and approvals for such items must be authorized by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC).

Once adopted, Guangdong would be given special authorization to temporarily cancel administrative approval items or assign them to authorities at lower levels, Minister of Supervision Ma Wen said while briefing legislators at a bimonthly session of the NPC Standing Committee, which opened Monday.

It would also mark the first such decision made by the top legislature after the country declared that it has successfully established a socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics in March 2011, as previous authorizations were often made to address the absence of major legislation.

Zhou Hanhua, an administrative law expert with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the arrangement will help to legitimize the reforms.

Guangdong was chosen for the program because of its position at the forefront of reform and its relatively high level of market development, Ma said, adding that economic and social developments in Guangdong have created an urgent need for further administrative reform.

In 2011, Guangdong's per capita GDP was 7,819 U.S. dollars, ranking seventh among China's 31 provincial regions, according to the provincial statistics bureau.

Guangdong has pioneered many cutting-edge reforms, including those used to promote transparent policymaking and increase the government's operational efficiency.

In October, the Guangdong government pledged to create a better commercial environment by cutting 40 percent of administrative approvals at multiple levels by 2013, as well as cut the amount of time required for reviewing procedures in half by 2017.

Since 2001, the government has made six attempts to clean up the administrative approval system, which has caused unnecessary government intervention in small business, power abuses and corruption.

Figures from the State Council, China's cabinet, show that a total of 2,497 administrative approval items have been rescinded or adjusted in the past ten years, accounting for 69.3 percent of the total.

However, "our reforms are still lagging far behind the country's economic and social development," said Ma.

She said the Guangdong program is expected to create experience for future reforms in other areas.

If the program is successful, laws will be amended to make the program universal; however, it will be terminated if unsuccessful, Ma said.

According to the draft, 15 government approval items targeted for suspension will be handed over to qualified professional associations outside the government.

"Governments should refrain from handling issues that citizens, corporations or other organizations can handle independently, that a market competition mechanism can effectively adjust or that industrial groups and agencies can manage," according to a State Council statement issued on Aug. 22.

On the same day, the State Council revealed the Guangdong program and specified that the program will be effective through the end of the country's 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015).